It’s Not Magic, but it is Supernatural

When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, and he stayed close to the sea. One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward. Seeing him he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, saying, “My daughter is at the point of death. Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live.” He went off with him, and a large crowd followed him and pressed upon him.

There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years. She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that she had. Yet she was not helped but only grew worse. She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak. She said, “If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.” Immediately her flow of blood dried up. She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who has touched my clothes?” But his disciples said to Jesus, “You see how the crowd is pressing upon you, and yet you ask, ‘Who touched me?'” And he looked around to see who had done it. The woman, realizing what had happened to her, approached in fear and trembling. She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction.”

While he was still speaking, people from the synagogue official’s house arrived and said, “Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?” Disregarding the message that was reported, Jesus said to the synagogue official, “Do not be afraid; just have faith.” He did not allow anyone to accompany him inside except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they arrived at the house of the synagogue official, he caught sight of a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. So he went in and said to them, “Why this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep.” And they ridiculed him. Then he put them all out. He took along the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and entered the room where the child was. He took the child by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum,”which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!” The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around. At that they were utterly astounded. He gave strict orders that no one should know this and said that she should be given something to eat.

Meditation Reflection:

The Scriptures today confront our anger at God for death and suffering. Wisdom 1:13-14 (RSV) however reminds us however that neither of these came from Him:

“God did not make death, and He does not delight in the death of the living. For He created all things that they might exist.”

When we read the Creation account in Genesis 1 and 2, nowhere do we find disease, suffering, or death. Rather, God’s creation reflected His glory and so He commanded all the living things that He made to “be fruitful and multiply.”

Death entered not through God, but through sin. Satan and the fallen angels sinned against God and chose an eternity of suffering for the sake of prideful rebellion over an eternity of joy at the cost of humble obedience. Adam and Eve did not experience suffering or death until they joined Satan in sin and disobeyed God as well. In consequence, Genesis 3-9 relay the sad story of the proliferation of sin and suffering beginning with this first Original Sin. Toil, pain in childbirth, marital struggles, sibling rivalry, murder, polygamy, sickness, and death each begin with the decision to sin by the free will of individuals. As much as we want to blame God, the truth is most of our suffering stems from our own poor choices or the choices of others.

Sure, you might say, we’re at fault but can’t God do anything about it? Why does He sit back in silence? Doesn’t He care?

YES! From the beginning, God offered a merciful helping hand to sinful humanity. When Adam and Eve realized they were naked, He gave them clothes. When He confronted them about the consequences of their sins He also promised to one day send a Savior (Genesis 3:15). He made covenants with Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and so on. Finally, His only begotten Son left the glory of Heaven to take on a lowly human nature, freely divesting Himself of His divine power to live the life of a creature so as to carry our Cross and personally meet us in our need. St. Paul describes it well in 2 Corinthians 8:9 (RSV):

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that by His poverty you might become rich.”

God literally has some skin in the game. Not only does He offer healing, in today’s Gospel we see how much He cares when He heals. He accompanies the grief-stricken father to attend to the dying little girl. When He enters the room He doesn’t want people gawking or treating it like magic. Instead Jesus sends everyone out but the parents and a few of His apostles. When Jesus heals it’s a personal encounter. Jesus understands our pain and our needs because He lived it. Being man, He has shared our experience. Being God, He has the power to re-create us and restore us with a Word. By His divine power, Jesus commanded the girl to get up, thereby empowering her to do so. “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” From His human experience, He commands the little group with Him to give her something to eat. What a great little detail! I imagine her family and the apostles were just standing there in shock when she came back to life. Jesus moves on to the practical need at hand – after getting well from a long sickness a person is ravishingly hungry. Therefore He instructed them not to talk about it but instead to give her something to eat.

This encounter with the grieving father and dying girl has all the drama of a great script. Except, a fiction writer would not have interrupted the momentum with the seemingly tangential account of the woman with a hemorrhage – an encounter with competing drama that would be a distraction to a story. But, this is not a fictional story, this is real life. I learned early on as a mom that once you have kids you can say goodbye to uninterrupted focus on any task. Nothing, not even dishes, can be completed without interruption. Even now, although my kids are teens, I was interrupted yesterday by all three texting and calling and needing something even though I had said I was travelling for a few hours and would have spotty cell service. I recall one time in particular that illustrates the mulit-tasking of relational living. At the time my kids were little. I was driving home from visiting my dad and my brother caught a ride with me. As we were talking in the front seat kids asked for snacks, water, help with the dvd, and so on. I just kept talking, driving, and handing things back or fixing the dvd player with one hand, all while keeping my eyes on the road. My brother just stopped and laughed and said, “how are you doing this?”. With my first child I was a rookie for sure, but by three I had practice.

Jesus lived real life and cared for real people. While helping one family, a woman reached out in faith and needed His help too. People’s needs are rarely convenient, but love always makes time. As God, Jesus could easily heal her as He walked along, somewhat like my brother’s astonishment as I tended to needs of three children while we travelled without taking my eyes off the road for even a second. Here again however, Jesus underscores the relationship between faith, healing, and personal encounter with Him. He’s not a magic wand or a machine. She was healed because of His power and her faith. At the same time, He stopped what He was doing to pause and encounter her personally. In asking who touched Him, He invites her to not only receive His healing power, but to be received by Him personally. He doesn’t want her to feel like a desperate beggar. He gives her the opportunity to bravely step forward, and then affirms her for her faith and gives her His peace. How many people must have avoided her for so many years due to her bleeding? And here Jesus receives her and invites her back into communion with God and with society.

We live in a culture that wants a quick fix with a pill to remedy any ailment. Thankfully, we live in a time when medicine has produced a pill to fix a myriad of things. However, some things cannot be alleviated so simply. Christianity is not a pill that will make you instantly happy and take away all of your problems. It is however a personal encounter with Christ, Who is both God and man and cares for you. Suffering and death come from sin. Life and joy come from God. Faith does heal. Sometimes He heals in a moment, other times it takes years of relationship with Him to allow His work to fully take root in our souls. The Gospel affirms that no matter how dire the situation, Jesus will answer. We only need to ask in prayer or to reach out to Him and touch Him. Be prepared though. After suffering for so long, health can seem foreign. When Jesus commands you to arise and be at peace, you must leave your sickness behind and live as a new creation.

Consider:

Spend some time in silence, reaching out to Christ like the father of the little girl or the woman with the hemorrhage. Bring your troubles and worries to God…be humble like the woman to admit you need help.

Make a Resolution (Practical Application):

Set a reminder on your phone or with sticky notes to pause throughout the day and encounter Christ. Bring your needs of the moment before Him, no matter how small, and offer Him thanks for His presence and help.